Blue Nile Review

Website Screenshot

Blue Nile is arguably the largest online diamond retailer. Founded 12 years ago, BlueNile has since established a reputation for great customer service and support. This success was also largely built on the better prices they could offer over the typical mom and pop store.

The company understands that a great majority of jewelry shoppers do not have much knowledge about jewelry in general. With this in mind, they go to lengths to ensure that a potential customer is given sufficient information to weigh on a potential purchase.

This enables the consumer to make up his/her own mind and select a piece of jewelry of sound quality that is within their budget.

Product Range and Prices At BlueNile.com

Loose diamonds are the core products at BlueNile.com and they form the bulk of the jewelry sold at their website. They happen to have the largest online inventory of diamonds with over 140,000 pieces of different shapes and sizes to cater to people with different budgets. Besides that, Blue Nile also offers a wide range of pearls and gemstone jewelry sold in platinum, sterling silver, and gold.

When it comes to ring mountings, the options available seem almost endless. Whether you’re shopping for a wedding band, engagement ring or anniversary gift, Blue Nile’s immense collection can meet almost every customer’s taste in jewelry. For example, if you’re shopping for a ring or pendant, you can use the company’s ‘Build Your Own’ tool to design your own setting. Besides various patterns to choose from, you can also select the metal type of your own preferences from 3 options of white gold, gold and platinum.

When it comes to style, the selection of jewelry doesn’t disappoint. Even though they might not have licensing deals with brand names or settings made by well known designers, their alternatives to the classic ring are particularly pleasing.

Jewelry, especially diamond jewelry, is usually a reserve for higher end shoppers. However, budget buyers are well catered for as well. Prices for gemstone jewelry start for as low as $50 while those for loose and mounted diamonds tend to go up in the higher digits. For the purpose of this review on BlueNile.com, we will limit our focus on diamond related jewelry.

Blue Nile’s Website And Features

You will not find complex graphics or glittery flash animations on their website. Instead, what you’ll find is a simple and functional interface with a straightforward search feature. Whether it is an engagement ring or something simpler to spoil yourself with, you can refine your search to help you locate exactly what you need. From the type of item, price, metal or stone, and style, you can quickly narrow down to designs that interest you.

There’s also an exhaustive collection of content in the form of informative articles. For a first time shopper, the FAQ section contains almost every answers and article to commonly asked questions. For instance, you could easily read up on how to shop for different types of jewelry, learn how jewelry is graded, find tips on reading grading reports, etc.

The major problem with Blue Nile is that you are buying “blind” and won’t know exactly what you will get until the parcel arrives. That’s RISKY. In contrast, other vendors like James Allen and White Flash offer features like videos and light performance data to show you exactly how a diamond looks like and how it performs before you even buy it.

A Review of BlueNile’s Security And Customer Support

All personal and credit card information is processed through a secure server and the company will not disclose any of your information to third parties. Customers who are uneasy with giving their credit card information can opt to pay through PayPal or Google Checkout.

Do note that but this is only valid for orders inside USA. I only knew of this issue when I tried to make a purchase from an international location with my Paypal account.

Blue Nile does offer a 30-day money back guarantee which is pretty much the industry standard nowadays. In case you’re not pleased with what you had purchased, returning it isn’t too much of a hassle. Like most other jewelry stores, all purchases are shipped with FedEx to ensure that you receive your purchase. On top of that, customers also have an option to add a custom message with a gift order. I personally think this is a nice value added service and adds a personal touch which is useful for many occasions.

Customer support is offered 24/7 through phone, email, or live chat. On a personal note, the customer service standards that I experienced are definitely not something that I would give a thumb up to. Read my diamond shopping experience for my encounter with their support for more details…

And if you liked what you had read so far, don’t be. You shouldn’t be overly impressed because these are almost standard offerings that other competitive vendors offer. I’m sorry but I have to burse your bubble at this point.

So far, we had only touched on the basic features that any other online jewelry stores can offer and we had already seen issues starting to surface. For the typical diamond ring shopper, what really matters is getting the most beautiful diamond for your budget and here’s where things really start to go downhill.

On the next page, we take a critical look at BlueNile.com’s signature diamonds and we didn’t like what we saw. Continue reading to find out why and the results of our analysis…

What Our Readers Say…

6 Comments

Gordon-

January 25, 2015 at 7:29 pm

Blue Nile SUCKS big time and I don’t even know where to begin. Their customer service is one of the worst I’ve ever encountered when buying jewelry. First of all, I’ve gotten a charge on my credit card due to a cancelled order. Despite the fact BlueNile emphasizes a 30 day money back guarantee, I’m having difficulties in getting my money back.

Mind you, I’m a diamond collector and I had made a couple of purchases online before. I also purchased a couple of 2 carat diamonds in local stores before. So, I do know what I’m doing and is your above average clientele for luxury products.

However, what a huge mistake I made to try out Blue Nile this time round. When I returned a diamond I purchased because it looked milky and tried exchanging it for a more expensive stone, I was met with scorn and nasty remarks by the customer service representative. It got me so turned off that I decided to cancel the order and requested a refund which led to a string of unpleasant events.

If you are smart, heed this warning and stay far away from BlueNile.com. Don’t make the same mistake I made by trusting them with your money.

Sally-

March 30, 2015 at 3:40 am

Blue nile disappointed me so much with their “money back” policy. I have got my ring however needed it to be resized. Hence we sent it back to the US (from Australia) and they have guaranteeed that NO additional charge even if the Australian custom charges us they will reimburse us. However it is NOT the case. When we got charged by the custom, we paid it and expected to have an reimbursement from Blue nile. Blue nile provided us with an incorrect letter (not for returned goods but a random letter to custom for refund) and asked us to wait for refund from the custom.

Blue nile has misled us by saying reimburse any additional charge but when the time comes we got told if the custom does not refund they cannot and will not do anything. It does not fit the definition of reimbursement. We never expect a refund from custom but an reimbursement from Blue nile.

I will not recommend blue nile to anyone. there are plenty of online diamond jewellers and also local jewellers to choose from.

Joe K-

May 1, 2015 at 10:16 am

I’m looking to buy a round diamond around the 0.75 carat, VS2 range? I’m based in the UK, so have been using bluenile’s Uk based site.

Could anyone comment on the stone in the link below and/or make any recommendations within similar price range (max. £2k)?

The diamond you selected is mediocre. From its proportions alone, I can tell you that it is going to experience some light leakage under the table facet. The pavilion angle is slightly too steep and the angle combination isn’t ideal.

Anyway, this diamond has strong fluorescence and you want to double check that it doesn’t cause any haziness or milkiness.

Never again will i deal with this company. Bought an engagement ring and wedding band. Diamond fell out and instead of apologising asked that I send at my own cost EUR46 the ring back with no commitment they would fix it. Very poor customer service. Go to a local jeweller who you can trust.

Paul Gian-

July 26, 2015 at 5:10 pm

Sorry to hear about your awful experience with BlueNile.

First things first, I’m not a fan of BlueNile. I think that’s pretty clear based on my review and I have no intention of defending them. Now, regardless of whom you buy a diamond ring from (whether its online or a brick and mortar store), it is almost a standard procedure for any jewelry business to do a check on the ring first before committing to fixing it.

To be fair, anyone would want to make sure that the damage is not caused by negligence before repairs are performed. I’m pretty sure Blue Nile will perform the necessary repairs to satisfactory conditions once the assessment is completed.

Lastly, shopping at a local jeweler doesn’t prevent the issues you face and yes, BlueNile isn’t the best company to deal with when customers run into problems.